Running Lights
by frickfrackbitchslap
Summary: A frustrated lantern who doesn't know how to show his love for a certain speedster? Sounds like just another day at the office. Rating may change as the story continues. Fluff ensues because HalBarry is life 3 / Slow burn
1. Chapter 1

The night was old, and so felt a certain speedster and lantern as they crashed into the Jordan apartment, making just a touch too much noise for them to be considered as 'moderately appropriate' for the ungodly hour that they had traipsed in. Covered in cuts and bruises, both Hal and Barry groaned as they crashed onto Hal's ancient couch, wincing at the springs poking at their aching joints.

"…total mess…"

"…god that was chaotic…"

"…yeah at least you were there to help…my joints…"

"…old man…"

"…watch it…"

"…fight me."

"I will. When I've got enough damn energy because I'm about to fall asleep on your couch."

"Same. Move over, you're taking up the whole damn couch, Barry."

"Mmmmfffff."

"Fine." Hal heaved his aching body over and draped himself over Barry, groaning as his back arched in a stretch over the speedster's torso. He was practically laying in his lap, but neither of them cared, Barry's head buried into Hal's rather old couch cushions.

A moment or two passed before Barry piped up from the depths of Hal's couch.

"Hal?"

"What."

"Do you have any food?"

Hal groaned before heaving himself off Barry reluctantly; he had rather enjoyed lying in the speedster's lap. Trust Barry to ruin a cute moment, he mused to himself, his bisexual heart hammering at the thought of lying on the speedster again. No Hal, he said to himself. He's straight. You may not be, but Barry is. No. Advances. On. Your. Coworker.

"Uhh…I can order a pizza. Or like. Three," he half-joked, before dialling the number on the landline upon his kitchenette counter. "Can I get three large pizzas please? One cheese, pepperoni and Hawaiian. Thank you. Yep, the usual address." Hal was infamous for his large pizza orders, mostly because Barry came over to play video games and to hang out sometimes. Just bro things, he mused to himself, wishing it could be so much more.

"Hal I love you. Marry me. Wife me up." Barry moaned from the couch, thinking of pizza. Hal felt a pang in the depths of his stomach; even though Barry was kidding, he knew he would do that in a heartbeat. Just…Hal. Suppress thy homosexual feelings, he thought to himself sternly. But Barry looked so cute curled up on Hal's couch it was almost impossible to suppress those feelings. With a sigh, he returned to the couch, taking care not to touch the speedster lest he get those thoughts again.

"Hal, you okay?" Barry asked, eyes wide with concern. Hal hadn't realized how quiet he had been for a few moments before coming to his senses and blinking rapidly.

"Yeah, just a little tired, that's all." Pause. "Fighting those Rogues really took it out of me."

"Mood."

They settled once again into a comfortable silence, this time with Barry snoring onto Hal's shoulder. That's how Hal fell in love with Barry really; it was like falling asleep, slowly then suddenly all at once. Careful not to wake the speedster, Hal brushed a lock of hair away from his forehead gently, enjoying the warmth of Barry next to him for a few quiet moments before the pizza arrived.

Which caused Barry to jump up, suddenly invigorated.

"FOOD." He said, with great enthusiasm. Hal had to suppress a smile at how cute the speedster looked with his hair all tousled, bright eyed and bushy tailed in anticipation for pizza. Hal went to answer the door, chuckling at the speedster's antics as he answered the door, only to be greeted with a powerful smell of marijuana.

"Pizzas for Hal." The delivery man said, before Barry zoomed over to receive them and pay.

"My treat, since I'll eat most of it anyway." The pizza delivery man looked disbelievingly at the slender man. "Fast metabolism."

"Yep, that's me. Hal. Thank you." he said with a nod, giving him exactly thirty dollars.

"C'mon man, no tip? Had t'walk three flights of stairs." The pizza man moaned.

"Well…here's thirty something cents and a promise that I won't call your boss that you reek of pot." Hal said bracingly before shutting the door on him, only to find Barry with a mouth full of pizza.

"Pineapple on pizza's a sin, Hal." he said, _with a mouthful of Hawaiian pizza._

"Then why're you eating it?" Hal shot back.

"The box was on top," Barry said. Hal wished he could say that he was on top (of Barry) too, but restrained himself with great difficulty.

"Fair. Hey, thanks for paying, babe." he joked, brushing a hand through his hair.

"No problem, honey buns." Barry shot back, unaware of how he was making Hal's heart quiver with each giggle that left his lips, lust burning through the lantern's body as Barry spoke again. "Want me to say 'honey I'm home' next time?" he quipped.

"Yeah…I'd like that."

**Author's Note**

**I hope you guys enjoyed the first part of this fanfic! It'll be a bit of a slow burn, but I promise you, it'll be worth it. Dedicated to and frightlesswill on Instagram, two very talented authors. I recommend you check out their work! **


	2. Chapter 2

p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US"Hal awoke the next morning to Barry's head buried in his shoulder, the speedster happily snoozing away with light snores emanating from his frame. Both of them curled up on Hal's ancient couch (somehow; it was more a loveseat than a couch), their forms were twisted together in a way that made Hal's heart skip a beat or three. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US""Morning babe…" mumbled Barry, yawning as he awoke with a stretch, causing Hal's heart to fill with joy. "How was your sleep, Iris?" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US""Uhm…it's Hal, not Iris. And it was uhh…cozy." he added with a smirk to try and hide the hurt he felt at Barry's mention of Iris. He felt a pang of jealousy in his stomach at the mention of Iris, wishing desperately that it was him instead of her in the speedster's life, caring for him and being there for him at all times. Sure, they were close in terms of work and outside of work, but Barry and Iris were married. Hal wanted to be with Barry. Romantically. Sexuall- yep that train of thought needed to stop, he thought to himself, before he said something to fuck up their friendship or something. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US""Oh…sorry Hal. I mean, honey buns." joked Barry, extricating himself from the couch. "Thanks for letting me crash at yours. I really appreciate it, man." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US""I'd say anytime, but I don't think my back's gonna agree with you to be frank." said Hal with a wince as he too stretched and with great difficulty, left the couch, the aged couch's springs creaking as he did so. "That thing's ancient." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US""Like you." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US""Shut up, I'm only thirty." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US""Only." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US"Sigh. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US"A quiet moment passed before Barry piped up from the kitchen. "Hey Hal, you want pancakes?" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US""Since when do I have pancake mix?" demanded the lantern, striding over to the kitchenette, as Barry put on his 'kiss the cook' apron that Carol had gotten him when they were together back in the day. Their relationship had been fun, but only fun, nothing lasting, more like friends with benefits than anything else. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US""You don't, but you have the ingredients for Barry's homemade pancakes!" Barry exclaimed, flourishing the spatula which he had somehow procured from Hal's bachelor kitchen set. "Which, may I add, kick Betty Crocker's ass." /span/p  
div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-bottom: solid black 1.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"span lang="EN-US""Put your money where your mouth is, Allen, and get cooking. I'm a slut for pancakes." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt; border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid black .75pt; padding: 0cm; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 1.0pt 0cm;"span lang="EN-US" /span/p  
/div  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US"Thirty minutes later, both the speedster and the lantern were collapsed back onto Hal's couch, in what one would refer to as a 'food coma'. It turned out that speedsters' abilities weren't limited to defeating villains; they also made chocolate chip pancakes at superspeed. And boy, did they kick Betty Crocker's pancake mix's ass, Hal thought to himself as he rubbed his stomach, up to the throat in pancake. Total. Wife. Material. He loved the times he got to just be all domestic with Barry, pretend like they were their own little family, albeit a crime-fighting one, but a family nonetheless. He got to see the softer side of the man, which made him fall more and more in love with him with every passing day. But he couldn't ruin what he had with Barry now; no, it wasn't worth it, he thought to himself. He couldn't lose the speedster. /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US""You were right," he mused, more to himself than to Barry, verbalizing his reverie…but about pancakes instead of unrequited feelings. "You did kick Betty Crocker's ass. Hard." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US""Thank you, I try."/span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US""I appreciate." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US""Mm." They settled into a comfortable silence, before Barry yawned and leaned his head on Hal's shoulder. "Hey Hal?" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US""Yeah?" /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US""Love you, buddy." /span/p  
p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 132.85pt;"span lang="EN-US""Love you too, Barry." said Hal, another pang echoing in his chest. /span/p 


End file.
